Evo Morales had to leave his country due to the US-backed coup last year, but he is now back as the leader of the Bolivian people again.
Evo Morales was received by thousands of his supporters in Villazon, a town in southern Bolivia, on the border with Argentina.
Juan Evo Morales Ayma served as the President of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come from its indigenous population, his administration focused on the implementation of leftist policies, poverty reduction, and combating the influence of the United States and multinational corporations in Bolivia.
Following the court ruling eliminating term limits, on October 20, 2019 Morales won 47.1% of the vote in the first round of the 2019 Bolivian general election. His closest rival was Carlos Mesa, with 35.5% of the vote. As the gap between Morales and Mesa was over 10%, Bolivian election law dictated that a second-round run-off between them would not be required.
The results were immediately disputed, as there was an unexplained break in transmission of the results, leading to widespread protest across the country. Responding to the concerns and violent protests, Morales asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to conduct an audit of the vote count. Morales said he would call for a second-round runoff vote with Mesa if the OAS' audit found evidence of fraud. Morales asked the protesters to observe a truce while the OAS conducted the audit, while Mesa asked his supporters to maintain their strikes and street protests.
On November 8, 2019, police in a number of cities, including La Paz, Santa Cruz, Sucre and Cochabamba, joined in demonstrations against the government.
On November 10, 2019, the Organization of American States (OAS) published a preliminary report concluding that there were "clear manipulations" in the election; in its final report, released in early December, the OAS found "overwhelming evidence" of vote rigging in favor of Morales, including physical records with alterations, forged signatures, a “parallel technological scheme” of hidden servers, and evidence of wide-scale data manipulation.
Within an hour of the release of the preliminary report, Morales announced that fresh elections would be held, but this offer was rejected by the opposition party and civic leaders who demanded his resignation.
General Williams Kaliman, a supporter of Morales and commander-in-chief of Bolivia's army, and other military chiefs urged Morales to step down to restore "peace and stability and for the good of our Bolivia".
Morales announced his resignation, saying he had an "obligation as indigenous president and president of all Bolivians to seek peace". Other key figures in Morales' government also resigned. On November 12, Morales flew to Mexico where he was granted political asylum
In December 2019, Morales moved from Mexico to Argentina where he was also granted political asylum. That month, an arrest warrant was issued for Morales by Bolivian prosecutors for alleged sedition and terrorism. The interim government alleged that Morales promoted violent clashes in the country before and after he left office.
On January 19, Evo Morales named Luis Arce Catacora, a former economy minister, as his party’s candidate for president in the 2020 election.
Jubilation of Evo Morales’s party supporters took over the streets of Bolivia on October 19, when unofficial counts showed the party sweeping the country’s presidential election without the need for a second round of voting.
Arce officially became President-elect of Bolivia on October 23, after the completion of the official vote count and an announcement by the TSE. He was inaugurated on 8 November. (ILKHA)